Gladiators
by ArtemisApollo97
Summary: Set in Ancient Rome- They were simple villagers, going about their daily business. Perseus Jackson is accused of treason against the tyrannical king and is forced to suffer seventy lashes of a leather whip. His sister intervenes, but the punishments are interrupted by a slave merchant looking for profit. Percy, Louisa, Annabeth and Leo are sold into slavery as gladiators.


**Random idea inspired by Ben Kane's book **_**Spartacus the Gladiator**_**, (I'm doing my best to make it as different as possible!) If you haven't read it, read it. He's a bloody good writer! Set in Romany times :) **

**I do not own Percy Jackson, but Louisa is my OC.**

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Normal day, normal chores, normal pranks from Leo bloody Valdez. Louisa sighed. It couldn't get better than this. She eased straw from her hair and looked round, trying to locate her prankster friend.

"Valdez, show yaself." She ordered.

"No, I'm good with hiding, thank you."

"Coward."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Leo, just get ya ass here, OK?" Louisa sighed. Leo appeared from behind a stack of hay and straw barrels.

"What's the matter, Lou?"

"Tired."

"Aw, want a hug?" He teased.

"Just shut up 'n' help me find Percy."

"Uh, remember last time we found him?"

"Don't remind me." Louisa grumbled. Leo grinned cheekily.

"That was so awkward." Louisa glared at him. Trying to find Percy was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but when he had requested to see Louisa and she had ventured to his place after work, she had found her brother and his fiancé doing something that wasn't the best thing for her to walk in on. Leo had been there too to make matters worse and he hadn't let Percy forget about it.

Louisa sighed and turned away. Leo hurried after her and casually put his arm around her shoulders. "So, how is the beloved stable hand today?"

"About to kick a very annoyin' blacksmith's ass if he don't get his arm off me right now." Leo put his hands up in surrender, smiling sweetly. Louisa rolled her eyes.

"You love me really." He smirked.

"Then ya woke up…" She mumbled.

"Heard that." He sulked. Leo wasn't very good at staying 'upset' for long and was grinning again in no time. "Hey, where's everyone going?" There had been a sudden flow of villagers towards the village centre. Leo grabbed Louisa's wrist, insistent on holding on and not losing her to the tide of people as they were carried along.

They found Percy alright. Tied to a wooden stump, his hands above his head while the king's right hand man carried out lashes, striking Percy's back with no mercy.

"Hey!" Louisa shouted, pushing through the people and breaking free of Leo's grip. "HEY!" The guard glanced up and smirked. Leo was struggling to keep up with Louisa, but she was on the stage by the time he had reached the front of the crowd. "What in Hades' name d'ya think ya doin'?"

"King's orders, my lady." The guard mocked a bow. Louisa 'mocked' a right hook to his face. The guard staggered back, a tentative hand covering his now bleeding nose.

"What the fuck did my brother do?"

"Well, he was plotting to overthrow the king."

"If I'm honest, I don't bloody well blame him!"

"Wasn't…" Percy breathed. Louisa glanced at him, noticing his tearful fiancé in the front row. She motioned for Leo to get to Annabeth, the blonde haired, grey eyed noblewomen Percy had caught in his romance nearly six years ago. He had proposed on her birthday six months ago. "Wasn't… plotting… anything against… king…" He managed. The guard started towards him, raising the bloody whip, but was stopped by Louisa placing herself between the guard and her brother.

"Hit him again 'n' I'll send ya ta fuckin' Hades the hard way." The guard glanced at the king, who was watching from his throne, torn between amusement and anger.

"My dear, do you have any proof that your brother is innocent in this matter?" He smirked, looking her up and down. Louisa was itching to pull the knife from her sleeve and bury it in his chest, but that wouldn't reflect too well on her family and friends.

"Do ya have any proof that he's guilty?"

"The augur predicted it."

"Octavian? Really? I can trust that guy 'bout as far as I can throw him. We all know he comes out with bullshit. D'ya notice how everyone he hates mysteriously commits crimes that he's predicted have happened? Or is that just me?" There was a mumble of agreement from the watching crowds. "'N' then those people are tortured 'n' killed 'n' he's sittin' on his high horse, checkin' another victim off his list."

The king rose, six feet tall, athletic, with oiled black hair clipped to above his shoulders. His simple golden crown glinted in the sunlight and his magnificent toga was trimmed in silken purple.

"You speak against my augur. His family have been working for my ancestors for generations. I will not-"

"Tolerate any insults made towards the honourable augur." Louisa sighed, bored of those words after hearing them a million times. "So you're a bullshit master too, huh?" The king coloured angrily.

"Escort her to my quarters."

"No!" Leo shouted. He tried to get on the stage, but two guards twice his size grabbed him by his arms and threw him to the ground. They jumped down, kicking him repeatedly.

Louisa saw red, darting forward and stealing the chief guard's sword right from his belt. She jumped off the stage and rammed the sword up to its hilt into a guard's back. He went limp, a dead weight on the blade. Louisa tugged it free and parried the swing from the second guard, stepping over Leo, repeatedly stabbing and slashing at the second guard.

She feinted to the left and he prepared to block it, not expecting for her to jam her sword into his right ribs. His eyes widened as heart and lungs were punctured. Bloody froth tumbled from his lips, soaking his front.

"Archers, shoot her!" The king screamed. Louisa cut her brother free as Leo pushed himself to his feet. Archers on the catwalks above them were loading and aiming. Louisa grabbed Annabeth's wrist while Leo hauled Percy up.

They made a run for it, but were stopped by two long lines of people in chains being lead in by a rich, Greek man in a simple toga. With him were heavily armed and armoured men.

The king stared at the interruption in disgust. "Why do you bring slaves here, merchant?"

"In the hope that I may be able to buy some from you, great sir." The king regarded the slave merchant. Unlike the chained slaves, the merchant and his muscle men were well fed, clean and clothed warmly. "I hear you are merciless when it comes to taking prisoners." He held his hand out and one of his men passed over a large pouch that clinked with coins. "I am willing to make an offer considering you have some potential slaves for me."

The king's eyes swivelled to those that had tried to escape his kingdom.

"How much for these four?" The watching crowds parted, creating a large circle around Louisa, Percy, Annabeth and Leo.

"I love being the centre of attention." Leo mumbled.

The slave merchant moved forward. Louisa raised the bloodied sword, glaring at him with her sea-green eyes. He took a tentative step back while his men hustled forward, drawing their swords.

"Can she use that?"

"She killed two of my men moments prior to your entrance." The king explained. The merchant looked surprised, staring at Louisa in awe and slight fear. "Her brother was facing his sentence of seventy lashes for treason. The other two are close friends." The merchant moved on to Leo, who took an instinctive step back.

"He's fairly scrawny."

"Less of the scrawny." Leo frowned. The merchant lashed out with a back-hand, shocking them all. Seconds later, there was a bloody sword at his throat.

"Back off, ya slimy lil' git." Louisa threatened.

"I like feisty women." The merchant smirked. Louisa snarled and nearly took his head off. She would have had it not been for the merchant's muscle dragging her back. One of them disarmed her while a second pushed her to the ground and wrapped chains around her wrists behind her back.

"He is a blacksmith. She is a stable hand, but I have seen her training with her brother who was undergoing military training."

"And the blonde?" The merchant asked, looking Annabeth up and down appreciatively.

"A priestess for Athena." The merchant looked quizzical.

"I thought blondes were supposed to be unintelligent." Annabeth scowled and looked ready to knee this guy in his soft spot, but if they could easily pin Louisa down, what chance did Annabeth have? She didn't have the training, let alone the know-how of wielding a sword. Knives were her speciality, but there was no way she could free the concealed knife from her chiton with all these people watching.

"Mmm…" The merchant weighed the moneybag in his hand experimentally. "Three of these for the lot?" He offered.

"Four."

"Three and two small pouches." The king regarded him momentarily, looked at the pouch.

"Fine. Deal."

"Pleasure doing business with you." The merchant collected two more large moneybags and the two small pouches, carrying them to the king. His men chained the new slaves to the others, placing metal collars around their necks. Percy could barely stand up, dizzy and light-headed from blood loss.

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**That's all for tonight. I don't know how often I can update this as it was just a random thing, intended to be a one-shot, but it might turn into a longer story (not one of the crazy long ones, like Tobias Jackson- all grown up (kinda) or Leo's settled down (I really need to work on that one)).**

**Please tell me what you think!**


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